FCC expected to rule against Verizon

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to vote to bar Verizon Communications Inc. from its marketing tactics that try to keep customers from changing their phone service to cable. Cable operators filed a complaint with the FCC earlier, claiming that Verizon misuses customer information.

Both Verizon and AT&T offer high-speed Internet and video services that compete with cable, and cable providers sell phone services. The problem apparently arises when a consumer notifies Verizon that it wants to change its service to cable and the subsequent methods used by Verizon to try to retain those consumers.

Verizon has already asked the FCC to make it easier for people to switch from cable television to video services offered by phone companies, as Verizon wants consumers to be able to switch from cable as easily as they switch phone companies.

The FCC Chairman is said to be against the decision to bar Verizon’s tactics. The majority of the FCC’s five Commissioners are expected to vote to support the complaint against Verizon. This is said to be because the majority have concluded that the complaint was supported by U.S. telecommunications law and is consistent with past FCC rulings on changing long-distance phone services.